The Role of a Coach: Much More Than Just Sports Essay

Sports management is a really broad field, therefore I decided to focus on my minor and one of my major interests of this field: coaching. In this paper I will be explaining my personal five building blocks that make up a well-rounded coaching philosophy and coach. Those blocks are; leadership, organization, attitude, respect, and resiliency. Each of these five aspects are equally important and balance each other out. Leadership, the action of leading a group of athletes towards a goal. Organization, being able to organize a team and have a plan in order to help the team achieve goals. Attitude, it is very important for a coach to have a winning and positive attitude that is contagious to the players. Respect, there has to be a good

Coaching: helping another person to improve awareness, to set and achieve goals in order to improve a particular behavioural performance.

I think it is safe to say that the coach has several roles to perform; with the main objective being to develop the person being coached. This can be achieved by increasing self-confidence, identifying relevant and suitable topics for coaching as well as agreeing the setting of suitable planned tasks to support the learning process.

One definition of coaching is “Coaching is unlocking a person’s potential to maximize their own performance.” (Coaching for performance, Sir John Whitmore 1992). Or to expand on this; Simply defined, coaching is one person guiding another through a process, leading to performance enhancement. The applications can vary, support to achieve a specific project, helping an individual to do better what they already do well, or developing a skill they don't yet possess.

The relationship between an athlete and a coach is an unique and (humble??) one. It’s all about learning, growing, and overcoming failures to its successes. About looking forward to the future together in the game and beyond the life of sports. The interaction between them should be upheld and agreed upon, to be held together. They are the most influential character of the competitive environment. I believe in the value of a coach.

Required classes to ensure that coaches know what to do are: Selected principles of biology, anatomy, physiology, kinesiology, psychology, and sociology related to coaching; human growth and development; safety; first aid and care of injuries; and training and conditioning of athletes. All coaches must be current in first aid prior to the first day of practice for the assigned sport. According to the Commissioner of Education in New York State University as stated in an interview through e-mail, “First-aid can be completed through various options like American Red Cross responding to emergencies; a state education department-approved course on health sciences applied to coaching; a state education department-approved college or university on athletics training or sport medicine; a state education department-approved in-service first aid course; a state education department-approved college first aid course; or equivalent experience attending clinics, workshops, courses or specific programs approved by the Commissioner of Education in that coach’s state.” Knowing the issues that come with safety and prevention is the most important. Every coach needs to take into consideration the fact that anything can happen, and with a proper training and courses taken can help in quick reaction to any incident occurring. Knowing the health related aspects of athletics is something every coach has to have.

I will inspire athletes to demonstrate good character. Sports do not have an influence on one’s character; however, coaches can strongly impact athletes’ character, both negatively and positively. For this reason, I will work to coach in ways that support the growth of athletes’ character and create learning opportunities and situations in which athletes can practice and learn from. As a coach, I will lead by example and demonstrate good character because actions speak louder than words. I will do this by embodying sportsmanship and respecting athletes, opponents, other coaches, and referees. I will also show this to athletes by respecting, caring, and being trustworthy. I will also lead by example by staying

Backinsell, D., & Garner, C. (2008, Nov 15). All about coaching: Building relationships to achieve goals. South China Morning Post. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/266685669?accountid=12085

Coaching is all about helping athletes achieve their dreams. It should be done positively and smartly and with passion. The positive coach and role model, following a well defined coaching philosophy will be a key ingredient in

Coaches should have sport specific skills as they need to understand certain technical aspects of the sport they are trying to teach. A coach needs to ensure that they have a good knowledge and understanding of their own sport and how the latest information in sport science can aid to develop performers, this is important so coaches can deliver demonstrations correctly and carry out good practice as if they were to demonstrate something wrongly then students could pick up bad habits by simply imitating and doing as their instructed. However if a coach is less knowledgeable in a particular area of sport they could use their transferable skills .

Sports have been a very big part of my life ever since I can remember. I began to participate in sports when I was about six years old. Now, thirteen years later, I’m a sophomore in college playing basketball at a Division 3 school. Through the years I have seen many different styles of coaching and teaching done by my mentors. The variety of different styles and how each one taught me throughout my years is astonishing to look back at. My coaching philosophy I believe would hit many aspects and could teach athletes important values in their life.

There are a number of definitions to what coaching is; I feel that I can personally relate to the following definition:

What is coaching – “The coach works with the clients to achieve a speedy, increased and sustainable effectiveness in their lives and careers through focused learning. The coach’s sole aim is to work with the client to achieve all of the client’s potential-as defined by the client” The Coaching Manual Starr, J 2008.

Coaching, however challenging, is a great way to influence the lives of others while also building their character. For as long as there have been sports, there have been people teaching the sport to the players and making them better at it. Coaches must have certain qualities in order to obtain success. One must also look at a coach’s motivation for his job, his passion for what he does, his methods for coaching, and how he became a coach in order to fully understand him. There are many questions someone may want to ask a coach about his profession if they are interested in coaching. Some questions would include: Why did he choose this as a profession? How did he get into coaching? What does one have to do to get a job as a coach? How

Coaching is the art of facilitating another person’s learning, development and performance. Through coaching people are able to find their own solutions, develop their own skills and change their own behaviors and attitudes.